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Hello
I am looking to move several announcement groups from Yahoo to here. These are mostly e-mail announcement lists, with a couple as discussion groups.
The members of the groups are not particularly computer literate, so I am trying to make everything very simple for them, with the minimum of jargon and irrelevant options that confuse them.
I was pleased to see that most of groups.io's messages can be customised. However, I have not been able to find a way to change the text at the bottom of every message:
Groups.io Links:
You receive all messages sent to this group.
| Reply To Sender | Reply To Group | Mute This Topic |
Contact Group Owner
Terms Of Service
For announcement groups, all of these are irrelevant except:
Reply to Sender (and this is not really necessary as they can reply to the e-mail)
Unsubscribe from group
Contact group owner (perhaps - again, they could just reply to the e-mail)
Is there a way to change the text added to the bottom of messages?
A second question relates to accepting an invitation. There appear to be two options. One is to reply to the message. The other is to accept it on the web site.
On the web site, people are presented with a big page and lots of options. Most of my members would not have a clue what most of them mean, and would probably not click any of them out of confusion.
Is it possible to have a link which just adds them to the group with All Messages instead of giving them all these options.
Thanks
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If you mean the footer, you can actually type in custom text in the settings under ?under your group, then admin, then settings. I just modified my android list to list resources people could use. For an example look at the group in my sig, although I'm not sure if the new footer will show up on the older messages.?Doubt it. Oh well. I hope one is there for people to see.
Take care and be blessed. For an android list in the making where android apps, accessibility, phones and development can be discussed ?subscribe send a blank email to and follow the prompts. to visit the subgroups ?and subscribe (note you must be subscribed to the main group as well) visit the following URL:
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Hello
I am looking to move several announcement groups from Yahoo to here. These are mostly e-mail announcement lists, with a couple as discussion groups.
The members of the groups are not particularly computer literate, so I am trying to make everything very simple for them, with the minimum of jargon and irrelevant options that confuse them. I was pleased to see that most of 's messages can be customised. However, I have not been able to find a way to change the text at the bottom of every message:
Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. | Reply To Sender | Reply To Group | Mute This Topic |
Contact Group Owner
Terms Of Service
For announcement groups, all of these are irrelevant except:
Reply to Sender (and this is not really necessary as they can reply to the e-mail)
Unsubscribe from group
Contact group owner (perhaps - again, they could just reply to the e-mail)
Is there a way to change the text added to the bottom of messages?
A second question relates to accepting an invitation. There appear to be two options. One is to reply to the message. The other is to accept it on the web site.
On the web site, people are presented with a big page and lots of options. Most of my members would not have a clue what most of them mean, and would probably not click any of them out of confusion.
Is it possible to have a link which just adds them to the group with All Messages instead of giving them all these options.
Thanks
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newcastle.ramblers, However, I have not been able to find a way to change the
text at the bottom of every message:
/Groups.io Links:/ As Sarah mentioned you can add your own content to the footer. But there is no way to alter the standard Groups.io footer content. For announcement groups, all of these are irrelevant except: I think the only ones that are actually irrelevent are Reply To Sender, Reply To Group, and New Topic. The first two will create an email message which will bounce back from an Announcement Only group, the third would take a member to a page they can't access. That sounds like a good suggestion to make in beta@ - remove those three items from the footer if the group is set to Announcement Group. On the web site, people are presented with a big page and lots of
options. ...
Is it possible to have a link which just adds them to the group with
All Messages instead of giving them all these options. I haven't followed an Invite link lately, so I'm not sure what all is there (a screen shot would have been handy). I don't believe there are any group owner controls to change the content of the Invite landing page. That would be another thing that would have to be taken up as a suggestion in the beta group. Shal
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> For announcement groups, all of these are irrelevant except:
I think the only ones that are actually irrelevent are Reply To Sender, Reply To Group, and New Topic. The first two will create an email message which will bounce back from an Announcement Only group, the third would take a member to a page they can't access.
These people do not understand the digest concept and generally do not want it. They are also only ever going to access the list via e-mail - they will never go to the groups.io site, and they will never sign up as groups.io members.
So Mute This Topic, Change Your Subscription, Group Home, Contact Group Owner and Terms Of Service are also irrelevant. They will basically create confusion which will come back to me to explain and sort out any problems.
We come back to Unsubscribe being the only necessary option for my members. > Is it possible to have a link which just adds them to the group with
> All Messages instead of giving them all these options.
I haven't followed an Invite link lately, so I'm not sure what all is there (a screen shot would have been handy). I don't believe there are any group owner controls to change the content of the Invite landing page. That would be another thing that would have to be taken up as a suggestion in the beta group.
This is it. There is a second page if you open the PDF.
For people who are scared of e-mail, this is just too over-the-top, especially the repeated references to groups.io when they think they are signing up to a club e-mail list. Part of the problem we have with Yahoo now is that the invitation is so long and so full of jargon that they just give up and delete it. Then complain when they do not get any e-mails. :-(
Then you get the actual invitation message, which I thought was customisable. Well, no. You can add a message in the middle of it (the red bit), but you are still stuck with a lot of confusing stuff.
You have been invited by xxxxxxxxxxx@... to join the Groups.io group?[email protected].
The following message was included by xxxxxxxxxxx@...:
This is an invitation to join the yyyyyy Club's e-mail list.?The program, newsletters and other?announcements are sent via this list?to members.
To join, simply reply to this message. You do not have to change anything - just reply.
If you do not join, you will get no messages from the club.
If you have questions about this invitation, send them [email protected].
To accept the invitation, please reply to this email, or you may?accept the invitation?on the website.
If you are not interested, or if wwwwwwwwwwww@... is not your email address, please?ignore this email.
Cheers,
The Groups.io Team Let's just look at a few issues here for unsophisticated users:
1. They want to be invited by the club, not an e-mail address. 2. They have no idea what groups.io is. 3. The e-mail address is displayed twice at the top - just unnecessary. 4. If they have questions, I would rather say to contact me at an e-mail address they already know, rather than some strangely formatted address they do not recognise. (In these days of warning people constantly about phishing and scams, it is asking for trouble to use an unfamiliar address.) 5. Accept the invitation on the website - see above. 6. I would rather the signature be the club name than groups.io, for similar reasons to above.
It seems to me that groups.io is oriented towards sophisticated users who know the difference between e-mail and forums. In this respect it is very powerful. But loading newbies with all this is going to cause *me* trouble.
Cheers
David
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David, They are also only ever going to access the list via e-mail - they
will never go to the groups.io site, and they will never sign up as
groups.io members. Most of my group members are the same way, in my PTA group (which is an Announcement Group) and in my classmate groups (which are discussion groups). My classmates are all 60+, varying widely in experience with computers and email, and most have managed to stick with my Yahoo Groups until I transferred the groups here. Everyone seems to like the change, at least those few who've ventured onto group web site for a look-see. The PTA members are generally a lot younger, but they don't have to do anything but receive announcements and (hopefully) show up for events. So far no one has acted or commented on being confused by the links at the bottom of messages, or by anything else about Yahoo Groups. It is subtle, and I think much easier for them and for you than you're anticipating, but they are given a Groups.io account and profile the moment they accept your invitation (even by email reply). And if they accept by web they're logged in to their account at that moment, and stay logged in for 30 days (or they log out, or they clear their browser's cookies). But more importantly, if you're transferring these members from existing Yahoo Groups you don't need to invite them - and they don't have to accept anything. Instead they receive a Welcome message from Groups.io and are members of your group (with a Groups.io account) as part of the transfer process. The Welcome message does have an opt-out in it in case they don't want to be members. This is it. There is a second page if you open the PDF. Thanks! Ok, so it is mostly a clone of their Subscription page, which they'd find if they clicked that link (in the left column of your group's pages). Then you get the actual invitation message, which I thought was
customisable. Well, no. You can add a message in the middle of it (the
red bit), but you are still stuck with a lot of confusing stuff. I found it helps to put a ruling line at the top and bottom of your customizable section. That helps guide the eye and clarify what's boilerplate and what's personal message. But again, this applies to later newcomers, not to the members who transfer over. You have been invited by xxxxxxxxxxx@... to join the Groups.io
That's odd. In the invitations I've sent to my groups my Display Name (which is my real name) appears in both places, not my email address. If you haven't you probably want to set a Display Name for yourself, maybe even the club name instead of your real name. group [email protected].
Ah, I see you've got subgroups. My PTA group does, my classmate groups don't. Still, for the PTA group Members@[PTA name].groups.io seems to be clear enough. 1. They want to be invited by the club, not an e-mail address.
3. The e-mail address is displayed twice at the top - just
unnecessary. See above about your display name. 4. If they have questions, I would rather say to contact me at an
e-mail address they already know, rather than some strangely formatted
address they do not recognise.
6. I would rather the signature be the club name than groups.io, for
similar reasons to above. I wrote my custom section as a full message of its own, including a signature block at the bottom with my full name and email address. The paragraph just above that invites them to write to me if they have any questions. It seems to me that groups.io is oriented towards sophisticated users
who know the difference between e-mail and forums. In this respect it
is very powerful. But loading newbies with all this is going to cause
*me* trouble. Possibly, though that hasn't been my experience. Most of my classmate group members came over from my Yahoo Groups, so in a sense maybe they aren't "newbies" - they'd put up with Yahoo Groups footers and other distractions already. My PTA group members are mostly newbies - but I used Direct Add (a Premium group feature) to bring almost all of them into the PTA group. Fortunately the PTA group gains the vast majority of its new members during each school year's registration - so I've only had to pay for Premium one or two months each year. Shal
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On 23/11/2017, at 17:21 , Shal Farley <shals2nd@...> wrote: Most of my group members are the same way, in my PTA group (which is an Announcement Group) and in my classmate groups (which are discussion groups). My classmates are all 60+, varying widely in experience with computers and email, and most have managed to stick with my Yahoo Groups until I transferred the groups here. Everyone seems to like the change, at least those few who've ventured onto group web site for a look-see. The PTA members are generally a lot younger, but they don't have to do anything but receive announcements and (hopefully) show up for events. So far no one has acted or commented on being confused by the links at the bottom of messages, or by anything else about Yahoo Groups. My lot never used the Yahoo web site. Many of them do not seem to even understand the concept of an account. Each year, about 70% of them (about 140 people) have no idea what their account is on our club website to renew their membership. So they ring up the website admin to find out their username and password. Then they promptly forget it and do the same 12 months later. The effort that has to go into support is far too much for volunteers. The simpler we can make it the better. It is subtle, and I think much easier for them and for you than you're anticipating, but they are given a Groups.io account and profile the moment they accept your invitation (even by email reply). And if they accept by web they're logged in to their account at that moment, and stay logged in for 30 days (or they log out, or they clear their browser's cookies). For an announcement list, why would they want to go to the web site? If they are already on the list, they have received the message. The issue is with getting them on the list in a smooth and simple manner, and the website does not help with that. But more importantly, if you're transferring these members from existing Yahoo Groups you don't need to invite them - and they don't have to accept anything. Instead they receive a Welcome message from Groups.io and are members of your group (with a Groups.io account) as part of the transfer process. The Welcome message does have an opt-out in it in case they don't want to be members. Except that this is a high turnover club. Typically 30-40 new members each year. And of those 30-40 people, there are always a few who never manage to get onto the mailing list. The Yahoo messages are so obtuse it is not surprising. I was hoping groups.io would be better. I found it helps to put a ruling line at the top and bottom of your customizable section. That helps guide the eye and clarify what's boilerplate and what's personal message. That's a useful tip, but really it does not look good to be saying "Ignore anything after this". Most of my classmate group members came over from my Yahoo Groups, so in a sense maybe they aren't "newbies" - they'd put up with Yahoo Groups footers and other distractions already. In our case, Yahoo has been a challenge that has caused many hours of unnecessary effort. I thought groups.io might be better. It certainly is in some respects, but in others it is no different. The question is whether to make the effort to move them or not. It needs to be significantly better to make it worthwhile. David
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I would like a fully customizable invitation message. Suggesting things is great but a form letter is so formal and it is so detailed that it confuses people because it isn’t like the conversation the person and I have had leading up to it. It isn’t like the messages I write that encourage people to join. Suddenly they are in IRS land. Most people, frankly, are used to it but it would be nicer if the manager could write a message that fits the situation. For an announcement list, I can see why it would be totally confusing, and would infer that people could respond when on announcement lists any response will get you unsubscribed. Sharon ---- Sharon Villines [email protected]
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On Nov 23, 2017, at 7:03 AM, Newcastle Ramblers <newcastle.ramblers@...> wrote:
The question is whether to make the effort to move them or not. It needs to be significantly better to make it worthwhile. Trust me. The switch is effortless. And in some indefinable way the Groups.io list is intuitive and transparent. It’s just less bother and fuss. People have volunteered that it is “smoother” and less in your face. Visually it’s clean design. Sharon ---- Sharon Villines [email protected]
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There is absolutely no question that it’s significantly better.
Sent from my iPhone
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On Nov 23, 2017, at 10:27 AM, Sharon Villines <sharon@...> wrote:
On Nov 23, 2017, at 7:03 AM, Newcastle Ramblers <newcastle.ramblers@...> wrote:
The question is whether to make the effort to move them or not. It needs to be significantly better to make it worthwhile. Trust me. The switch is effortless. And in some indefinable way the Groups.io list is intuitive and transparent. It’s just less bother and fuss.
People have volunteered that it is “smoother” and less in your face. Visually it’s clean design.
Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
[email protected]
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Sharon, ... when on announcement lists any response will get you unsubscribed. Huh? This is not automatically true. And would seem a strange thing for a moderator to do. In my PTA Announcement Group I have the Reply To option set to "Moderators" - so any member's reply goes to the group's +owner address (which is forwarded to me and the moderators of the group). Shal
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On 23/11/2017, at 5:51 , Shal Farley <shals2nd@...> wrote: However, I have not been able to find a way to change the
text at the bottom of every message:
/Groups.io Links:/ As Sarah mentioned you can add your own content to the footer. But there is no way to alter the standard Groups.io footer content.
Messages in this group have different text at the bottom. Either it must be possible to change it, or it must be possible to not display it, and what is being displayed is the footer defined within the group.
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On Thu, Nov 23, 2017 at 01:15 pm, Newcastle Ramblers wrote:
Messages in this group have different text at the bottom.
The footers that you'll see on messages you receive in email will depend on how you have your subscription set up for that group. Duane
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How come they are different?
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David, Messages in this group have different text at the bottom. Some of the links in the footer have variations that depend on your subscription settings, and on the settings of the group. Also, the footer appears different if the message is plain text versus HTML formatted. And there's a longstanding - I consider it a bug - that if the message is HTML formatted but you view it in your email service as plain text, then no footer at all appears. I contend that the plain-text footer should be present in the text/plain portion of a formatted message, but Groups.io has not put a priority on it. Shal
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On 24/11/2017, at 8:53 , Shal Farley <shals2nd@...> wrote: David,
Messages in this group have different text at the bottom. Some of the links in the footer have variations that depend on your subscription settings, and on the settings of the group.
Also, the footer appears different if the message is plain text versus HTML formatted. This is probably it. If it is plain text, you get the full URL as text like this: Presumably messages that get this are HTML where the URL is hidden: Groups.io Links:
You receive all messages sent to this group.
View/Reply Online (#15315) | Reply To Group | Reply To Sender | Mute This Topic | New Topic
Change Your Subscription
Group Home
Contact Group Owner
Terms Of Service
Unsubscribe From This Group
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David, For an announcement list, why would they want to go to the web site?
...
The issue is with getting them on the list in a smooth and simple
manner, and the website does not help with that. If their tendency is already to use email rather than the web, you could reinforce that in the customizable portion of the invite. I realize that's just side-stepping the issue you raise, but the best I can do is offer advice on how to use the site as it is. That's a useful tip, but really it does not look good to be saying
"Ignore anything after this". You don't have to say that. As long as your portion makes a complete statement of what they need to know and to do, they'll rather naturally ignore the rest. Shal
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Actually for me I'm a curious soul. If you say ignore everything under this, or what ever I will still look and try and brake something. That's the nature of me being a beta tester though., not a basic user or just someone who just follows orders with out questioning them all the time.
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On Nov 23, 2017, at 8:22 PM, Shal Farley <shals2nd@...> wrote:
David,
For an announcement list, why would they want to go to the web site?
...
The issue is with getting them on the list in a smooth and simple
manner, and the website does not help with that. If their tendency is already to use email rather than the web, you could reinforce that in the customizable portion of the invite.
I realize that's just side-stepping the issue you raise, but the best I can do is offer advice on how to use the site as it is.
That's a useful tip, but really it does not look good to be saying
"Ignore anything after this". You don't have to say that. As long as your portion makes a complete statement of what they need to know and to do, they'll rather naturally ignore the rest.
Shal
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Sarah k Alawami
Shal Farley
Duane